Toothbrush handle and head construction



S. B. ARWOOD TOOTHBRUSH HANDLE AND HEAD CONSTRUCTION June 13, 1950 Filed Jan. 2'7, 1947 Patented June 13, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TOOTHBRUSH LHANDLE AND HEAD CONS TRUCTION Samuel B. Atwood, Baltimore, Md.

Application January 27, 1947, Serial .No. 724,642

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to toothbrushes.

An object of this invention is to provide a toothbrush which is designed particularly for cleaning upper and lower plates, together with the teeth on such plates.

Another object of this invention is to provide a brush wherein the bristles extend from an end of the back and are arranged on an are so that the bristles may be extended downwardly into the channel of the lower plate, with the bristles arranged in stepped relation so that the inner long bristles may engage within the channel of the lower plate, whereas the outer bristles which are shorter in length may engage on the edges of the channel.

Another object of this invention is to provide a toothbrush which will readily clean all of the concave surfaces and depressions in plates, both upper and lower, in addition to all of the convex surfaces and the spaces between the teeth.

With the above and other objects in view, my invention consists in the arrangement, combination and details of construction disclosed in the drawings and specification, and then more particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

In the drawings,

Figure l is a detail top plan of a toothbrush constructed according to an embodiment of this invention,

Figure 2 is a detail side elevation of the toothbrush,

Figure 3 is a fragmentary longitudinal section of one end of the toothbrush showing the brush in cleaning position with respect to a lower plate,

Figure 4 is a detail end elevation of one end of the brush with the bristles removed,

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 1.

Referring to the drawing, the numeral I0 designates generally an elongated handle which at one end thereof has a brush member generally designated as H. The brush member H includes a longitudinally curved back l'2, having bristles I3 extending from one side thereof. The handle ID at the end thereof opposite from the brush H is formed with a narrowed finger grasping portion I4 which in side elevation is extended upwardly from the adjacent side of the handle In, as indicated at IS.

A brush head or back I6 extends from the handle l0 and is of tapered configuration in plan, as shown in Figure 1, being formed with substantially outwardly divergent edges II. The back or head [6 has extending from the flat side I8 '2 thereof a plurality of bristles I9. The outer end of the back or head I6 is squared ofi as indicated at 20 and a plurality of stepped bristles 2| extend outwardly from the squared end 20.

The bristles 2| as shown in Figure 4, are formed on the outer side of the head IS on a curvature which follows the convex curvature of the head l6, and on the inner side the bristles 2| are in substantially a straight line as indicated at 22. The head I5 is formed with an outwardly extending longitudinally curved extension 23 within which long bristles 24 are adapted to be secured, the bristles 24 being disposed on an arc adapted to snugly engage within the curved channel 25 of a lower plate 26. The outer bristles 21 of the bristles 2| being substantially shorter in length than the inner bristles 24, are adapted to engage the outer edges 28 of the channel 25. In this manner both the inside of the channel 25 and the outer edges thereof may be cleaned in a single operation.

In the use and operation of this brush the handle H! is of such length that when the bristles 2| are engaged with a plate and the narrow portion l5 of the handle is grasped between the thumb and forefinger, the bristles l3 will be disposed rearwardly from the adjacent portion of the back of the hand. The bristles 2| may be engaged with either the upper or lower plates and where the lower plate is being cleaned, the bristles 2! may be disposed with the bristles 24 extended within the channel 25 of the lower plate 26. Due to the curvature of the mounting of the bristles 24 and 21, the channel can be thoroughly cleaned without straining or breaking the bristles as would be the case where these bristles are disposed in a straight line.

The bristles l9 may be used for cleaning the inside of the upper plate or the inner portions of the lower plate, and the bristles l3 may be used for cleaning the outer sides of both the upper and lower teeth. With a brush as hereinbefore described, both the upper and lower plates can be thoroughly cleaned without straining the bristles of the brush.

I do not mean to confine myself to the exact details of construction herein disclosed, but claim all variations falling within the purview of the appended claim.

What I claim is:

A toothbrush structure comprised of an elongated flat handle, a raised, arcuate compressed finger gripping portion integral with said handle and extending in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the width of said flat handle, a head integral with said handle immediately adjacent said finger gripping portion, said head comprising a member substantially triangular in plan diverging from said handle having a flat underside, a convexly arcuate upper side and a flat end portion, said fiat underside having a plurality of bores therein for the reception of bristles, and said end having a plurality of bores adjacent the periphery thereof for the reception of bristles, and a centrally positioned shoulde extending outwardly from the central portion of said fiat end, said shoulder having a convex upper side, a concave underside and a flat end surface parallel to the end surface of said head, said last mentioned flat end surface having an arcuate row of bristle receiving bores therein conforming to the cross sectional contour of said shoulder.

SAMUEL B. ARWOOD.

4 REFERENCES CITED {The following references are of record in the me of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date D, 110,185 Lukenbill June 21, 1938 158,099 Lowd Dec. 22, 1874 673,506 Pitts May 7, 1901 1,937,857 Swope et a1 Dec. 5, 1933 2,153,554 Fitzgerald Apr. 11, 1939 2,190,277 Viragh Feb. 13, 1940 2,206,542 Arnold July 2, 1940 2,236,034 Luce et a1 Mar. 25, 1941 2,272,151 Hertzberg Feb. 3, 1942 2,274,042 Cosby Feb. 24, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 19,408 Great Britain 1896 117,317 Switzerland Jan. 3, 1927 

